The acceleration of wireless technological advancement in the twenty first century has outpaced society's awareness of its impacts on birds, wildlife, and ecosystems.
Along with the proliferation of wireless devices in our homes and communities, our wireless world now reaches into parks, forests, nature preserves, and other regions where birds and wildlife previously were unexposed.
Man-made radio-frequency (RF) radiation from cell towers and modern devices has now penetrated rural and remote landscapes, even reaching wilderness habitats less frequented by humans.1
A growing body of scientific literature suggests that exposure to cell tower and other wireless RF radiation is harmful to a broad range of flora and fauna.2 Biologists have documented negative health effects in migratory birds3, honey bees4, turtles5, frogs6 and other wildlife7 including reproduction problems, foraging and food attainment issues, and navigation disruption.
Due to its harmful effects on diverse species and ecosystems, wireless RF radiation is increasingly acknowledged as an emerging pollutant adding to other environmental stressors such as pesticides, habitat destruction, deforestation, and climate change, and a contributing factor in the dramatic declines seen across varied flora and fauna species.8
The purpose of this website is to raise awareness by providing a bibliographic
reference of peer-reviewed scientific research
on the impacts of wireless RF radiation on diverse species and ecosystems.
1. Levitt et al., Rev Environ Health (2021).
2. Panagopoulos, Int J Oncol (2021).
Levitt et al., Frontiers in Public Health (2022).
3. Engels et al. Nature. (2014)
Balmori Electromagn Biol Med. (2006).
Everaert and Bauwens, (2007)
4. Molina-Montenegro et al., 2023. Sci Adv.
Odemer et al., 2019. Sci Tot Envir.
Bacandritsos et al. 2010. J Invertebr Pathol.
5. Goforth et al., 2025. Nature.
Landler et al., 2015. PLoS One.
6. Balmori, Electromagn Biol Med. 2010.
7. Manville et al., 2024. Fr Veterinary Med
Balmori, 2021, Sci Tot Env.
Cammaerts, 2017. J Behav.
Scientific Reviews and Summaries
"We may be damaging non-human species at ecosystem and biosphere levels across all taxa from rising background levels of anthropogenic non-ionizing electromagnetic fields."
Low-level EMF Effects on
Wildlife and Plants:
What Research Tells Us About an Ecosystem Approach
Levitt BB, Lai HC, Manville AM. Frontiers in Public Health, 25 November 2022. Sec. Radiation and Health. Link
Abstract:
There is enough evidence to indicate we may be damaging non-human species at ecosystem and biosphere levels across all taxa from rising background levels of anthropogenic non-ionizing electromagnetic fields (EMF) from 0 Hz to 300 GHz. The focus of this Perspective paper is on the unique physiology of non-human species, their extraordinary sensitivity to both natural and anthropogenic EMF, and the likelihood that artificial EMF in the static, extremely low frequency (ELF) and radiofrequency (RF) ranges of the non-ionizing electromagnetic spectrum are capable at very low intensities of adversely affecting both fauna and flora in all species studied. Any existing exposure standards are for humans only; wildlife is unprotected, including within the safety margins of existing guidelines, which are inappropriate for trans-species sensitivities and different non-human physiology. Mechanistic, genotoxic, and potential ecosystem effects are discussed.
Effects of Non-ionizing Electromagnetic Fields on
Flora and Fauna:
Three-Part Scientific Review on Radiofrequency Radiation, Wildlife and Ecosystems
Part 1. Rising ambient EMF levels in the environment. (2021) Levitt BB et al. Rev Environ Health. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34047144/
Abstract
Ambient levels of electromagnetic fields (EMF) have risen sharply in the last 80 years, creating a novel energetic exposure that previously did not exist. Most recent decades have seen exponential increases in nearly all environments, including rural/remote areas and lower atmospheric regions. Because of unique physiologies, some species of flora and fauna are sensitive to exogenous EMF in ways that may surpass human reactivity. There is limited, but comprehensive, baseline data in the U.S. from the 1980s against which to compare significant new surveys from different countries. This now provides broader and more precise data on potential transient and chronic exposures to wildlife and habitats. Biological effects have been seen broadly across all taxa and frequencies at vanishingly low intensities comparable to today's ambient exposures. Broad wildlife effects have been seen on orientation and migration, food finding, reproduction, mating, nest and den building, territorial maintenance and defense, and longevity and survivorship.
Part 2. Impacts: how species interact with natural and man-made EMF. Rev Environ Health, 2021 July 8. Levitt, Lai, Manville
Extensive scientific references, as well as extensive tables matching rising ambient EMF levels to health and other effects in the environment, even at intensities commonplace today.
Part 3. Exposure standards, public policy, laws, and future directions. (2021) Levitt, Lai, Manville. Rev Environ Health. 2021 Sep.
Offers policy recommendations based on existing environmental laws.
Bees, Birds, and Mankind:
Effects of Wireless Communication Technologies
Internationally renowned Saarland University bioscientist Ulrich Warnke explains how factors such as pesticides, mites, monocultures, severe winters, and genetically modified seeds fail to explain “the fairly sudden and country-spanning appearance two to three years ago of the dying bees phenomenon."
Excerpts:
-
“Bees and other insects, just as birds, use the Earth’s magnetic field and high frequency electromagnetic energy such as light. They accomplish orientation and navigation by means of free radicals as well as a simultaneously reacting magnetite conglomerate. Technically produced electromagnetic oscillations in the MHz range and magnetic impulses in the low frequency range persistently disturb the natural orientation and navigation mechanisms created by evolution.”
-
"Should the bees simply be too weak or ill, they should also die in or near the hive. But no ill bees were found in research into this phenomenon.”
https://www.bemri.org/publications/wildlife-and-plants/1-birds-bees-and-mankind/file.html
"Radiation studies at cellular communication towers... have documented
nest and site abandonment, plumage deterioration, reduced survivorship."
- U.S. Dept. of Interior, 2014
"The Department, through the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), finds that the proposals lack provisions necessary to conserve migratory bird resources, including eagles. The proposals also do not reflect current information regarding the effects of communication towers to birds."
U.S. Department of Interior on
Cell Towers and Birds:
Concerns about impacts "from non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation"
In 2014 the U.S. Department of the Interior addressed in a letter to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) its concern that cell tower radiation has had negative impacts on the health of migratory birds and other wildlife. The letter stated that:
“The second significant issue associated with communication
towers involves impacts from non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation
emitted by these structures.”
The Interior Department requested that “together with the bald and golden eagle” the Commission “address cumulative impacts on those 241 species for which the incremental impact of tower mortality… is most likely significant.”
The Department also described the radiation standards set by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as "outdated" and no longer applicable because they do not protect organisms from the adverse effects of exposure cell tower and cell phone radiation.
“The electromagnetic radiation standards used by the FCC continue
to be based on thermal heating, a criterion now nearly 30 years
out of date and inapplicable today.”
Following are excerpts from the Feb 7, 2014 letter:
“The Department believes that some of the proposed procedures are not consistent with Executive Order 13186 Responsibilities of Federal Agencies to Protect Migratory Birds, which specifically requires federal agencies to develop and use principles, standards, and practices that will lessen the amount of unintentional take reasonably attributed to agency actions. The Department, through the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), finds that the proposals lack provisions necessary to conserve migratory bird resources, including eagles. The proposals also do not reflect current information regarding the effects of communication towers to birds. Our comments are intended to further clarify specific issues and address provisions in the proposals.
"The placement and operation of communication towers, including un-guyed, unlit, monopole or lattice-designed structures, impact protected migratory birds in two significant ways. The first is by injury, crippling loss, and death from collisions with towers and their supporting guy-wire infrastructure, where present. The second significant issue associated with communication towers involves impacts from non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation emitted by them (See Attachment).”
Enclosure A
“The second significant issue associated with communication towers involves impacts from nonionizing electromagnetic radiation emitted by these structures. Radiation studies at cellular communication towers were begun circa 2000 in Europe and continue today on wild nesting birds. Study results have documented nest and site abandonment, plumage deterioration, locomotion problems, reduced survivorship, and death (e.g., Balmori 2005, Balmori and Hallberg 2007, and Everaert and Bauwens 2007). Nesting migratory birds and their offspring have apparently been affected by the radiation from cellular phone towers in the 900 and 1800 MHz frequency ranges- 915 MHz is the standard cellular phone frequency used in the United States. However, the electromagnetic radiation standards used by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) continue to be based on thermal heating, a criterion now nearly 30 years out of date and inapplicable today.
"... Radiation at extremely low levels (0.0001 the level emitted by the average digital cellular telephone) caused heart attacks and the deaths of some chicken embryos subjected to hypoxic conditions in the laboratory while controls subjected to hypoxia were unaffected (DiCarlo et al. 2002).”
For the full text of the letter, addendum and citations: http://1.usa.gov/1jn3CZg
A Scientist's Testimony, 2023: My Life for the Birds & Bats
Retired U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Senior Wildlife Biologist, Albert Manville, PhD
Presented at the Friends of Merrymeeting Bay’s (FOMB) 26th annual Winter Speaker Series. Dr. Manville describes the ecological importance of birds and bats to the planet, the effects of man-made radiofrequency radiation on bird and bat species, and his scientific research in pursuit of their protection.
Report to UNESCO on the Disappearance of Species
from Mt. Nardia Park's World Heritage Area
upon Expansion of Telecommunications Antenna
2000-2015
Australian botanist Mark Broomhall documents the impact of increased
electromagnetic radiation (EMR) in the Mount Nardi area of the Nightcap National Park World Heritage
Site, due to expansion of
telecommunications antenna.
The disappearance of large
numbers of species from the
area is documented over the
15-year period from 2000 to
2015, amid corresponding
increased levels of electromagnetic radiation from the Mount Nardi telecommunications tower complex.
Following the construction of a new cell tower deploying 4G technology in 2012 to early 2013, Broomhall documents the exodus of 49 bird species, among other wildlife and insect declines.
Excerpt: "...From 70 to 90 percent of the wildlife has become rare or has disappeared from the Nightcap National Park within a 2-3 km radius of the Mt. Nardi tower complex.”
https://ehtrust.org/wp-content/uploads/Mt-Nardi-Wildlife-Report-to-UNESCO-FINAL.pdf
Legal Challenges:
Protecting Ecosystems from Wireless Radiation
Federal Court Admonishes FCC
over Wildlife and Environment Concerns:
Finds That FCC "Failed to Respond to Environmental Harm Comments"
In a historic decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found in favor of environmental health groups and petitioners in 2021, ordering the FCC to explain why it ignored scientific evidence showing harm from wireless radiation to the environment and to humans.
The court held that the FCC demonstrated:
“a complete failure to respond to comments concerning environmental harm caused by RF radiation.”
Environmental Health Trust et al. v. FCC
The court also held that the FCC ignored scientists and environmental organizations that had called on the agency to update exposure limits. Finally, the court found that the FCC failed to address multiple issues, including:
-
impacts to wildlife and the environment
-
impacts of long term wireless exposure
-
impacts to children,
-
the testimony of people injured by wireless radiation,
-
impacts to the developing brain and reproduction.
The court ordered the FCC to “(i) provide a reasoned explanation for its decision to retain its testing procedures for determining whether cell phones and other portable electronic devices comply with its guidelines, (ii) address the impacts of RF radiation on children, the health implications of long-term exposure to RF radiation, the ubiquity of wireless devices, and other technological developments that have occurred since the Commission last updated its guidelines, and (iii) address the impacts of RF radiation on the environment.”
United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit
August 13, 2021 in EHTrust et al. v. FCC
Cows and Court: Turn Off Cellular Antenna
French Court Orders a 4G Antenna Deactivated Over Concerns About Serious Health Issues in Nearby Cow Herds
Reported by Le Monde in 2022: A farmer in central-east France said that milk production had dropped by 15-20 percent in the days following the installation of a 4G cellular antenna near his herd of cows. He reported that 40 of his 200 cows had died.
The French court listened:
In May 2022, the administrative court of Clermont-Ferrand, in the south-central Haute-Loire area of France, ordered the wireless antenna switched off after hearing evidence of the health deterioration in cows grazing nearby.
The court cited "a significant drop in the quality and quantity of milk produced, a serious disruption in the behavior of the herd and its voluntary denutrition and abnormally high deaths."
Let Citizens Vote Before Erecting Cell Tower
Huntington Beach Park: Ninth Circuit Court Upholds City Requirement That Cellular Carrier Get Voter Approval
What happens when a cellular carrier wants to build a new cell tower near the beach, but the city requires that its citizens first vote on whether to approve the tower?
This is what happened when the City of Huntington Beach, California, informed a cellular carrier that before being leased the rights to city park property for placement of a new cell tower, the company must first obtain approval from the city's voters. This approval requirement had been spelled out decades before within a city charter known as "Measure C."
However, the cellular carrier refused to obtain approval from city voters. The carrier argued that the voter approval requirement was preempted by the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
The disagreement went to the Ninth Circuit court.
Omnipoint Communications, Inc. v. City of Huntington Beach
The court ruled in favor of the City of Huntington Beach, finding that voter approval was, indeed, required prior to constructing a new cell tower on city-owned park property, under the city's Measure C requirement. The court stated that the Telecommunications Act of 1996:
"did not preempt the City of Huntington Beach’s decision
to require... voter approval
before constructing a mobile telephone antenna
on city-owned park property."
Companies interested in constructing a cell tower could not simply override the city's requirement for voter approval.
https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2013/12/11/10-56877%20web_a.pdf
No Right to Consider Environmental Effects?
A Challenge to 47 U.S. Code § 332
Does the public have the right to raise concerns about the environmental impacts of cell towers? What about when new towers are being proposed for placement near natural habitats, parks, forests, and protected lands? Can local residents oppose cell tower placement to avoid damaging effects on wildlife, birds, and the environment in and near their own communities?
The express exclusion of "environmental effects" as a basis for opposing new cell towers was discussed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, in the case Santa Fe Alliance for Public Health and Safety vs. City of Santa Fe.
"The questions presented are as follows:
1. Whether Section 704 violates petitioners’ First Amendment right to petition the government by pursuing claims in court.
2. Whether the term “environmental effects” in Section 704 includes effects on human health."
-Santa Fe Alliance for Public Health and Safety v. City of Santa Fe
Community Blocks Cell Tower Installation
Near Protected Nature Area
Eugene, Oregon: Citizens Oppose Cell Tower Near Amazon Creek
What happens when an application for a new cell tower is submitted, but residents living nearby are not aware of the plans?
When community residents in Eugene, Oregon realized that a 75-foot cell tower was being planned next to a protected nature area known as Amazon Creek, they were concerned.
However, they were even more concerned when their neighbors were unaware of the plans, even though the cell tower would be placed close to their homes.
With help from the local Friends of Amazon Creek organization, the Eugene community spread the word, met with neighbors, and successfully opposed the installation of the cell tower in 2013.
According to local newspapers, residents living within 500 feet of the proposed tower reported that they did not receive the legally required notification. "To our knowledge, no notices were mailed. We did see an 8.5 x 11 inch poster on one utility pole." One nearby resident helped to raise awareness of the planned cell tower by putting fliers under the doormats of 200 of her neighbors' houses.
https://www.electronicsilentspring.com/amazon-creek/
Media and Headlines
CNN:
Study Links Bee Decline to Cell Phones
June 2010, by Sasha Herriman
CNN's coverage on the environment described research suggesting that cell phone radiation may be contributing to declines in bee populations in some areas of the world. Although pesticides, parasitic mites, and climate change have been implicated in "colony collapse disorder," researchers studying bees in India believe cell phones could also be to blame. The researchers fitted cell phones to a hive and powered them up twice per day for fifteen-minute periods. They found that after three months, the bees stopped producing honey, the queen bee's egg production was cut in half, and the hive's size declined dramatically.
The reason could hinge on a pigment in bees called cryptochrome. "Animals, including insects, use cryptochrome for navigation," Andrew Goldsworthy, a biologist from the UK's Imperial College, London, told CNN.
They use it to sense the earth's magnetic field "and their ability to do this is compromised by radiation from [cell] phones and their base stations. So basically bees do not find their way back to the hive."
Fox News: Cell Phones Caused Mysterious Worldwide Bee Deaths, Study Finds
Published 2011, updated 2015
The Atlantic:
If Cell Phones Are Behind the Bee Decline, What Are They Doing to Humans?
June 2010
Noting that bee populations had dropped nearly 30 percent in the United States in the prior year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Atlantic reported on then-new research by Favre et al suggesting that cell phone radiation may be contributing to bee population declines in some areas of the world.
How does one test the effects of cell phone radiation on small honey bees? Researchers at northern India's Panjab University simply fitted cell phones to a bee hive, and turned them on. Notably, the phones were on for only two fifteen-minute periods each day.
After three months, the researchers found several dramatic problems in the hive: The bees had stopped making honey; the queen bee has produced only about half the eggs she normally produced, and the size of the hive had shrunk dramatically.
“...The reason may have to do with radiation from cell phones and cell towers disturbing the molecules of the chemical cryptochrome, which bees and other animals use for navigation.”
"The "other animals" part there is key: it includes humans."
In the journal Environment, 2022:
Environmental Procedures at the FCC: A Case Study in Corporate Capture.
Erica Rosenberg. Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development. Vol 64, 2022.
https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/1222046629894/7
"The FCC fails to fulfill its mandatory duties under the
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in multiple
and significant ways."
-Erica Rosenberg, former FCC Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, Assistant Chief of Competition and Infrastructure Policy Division
https://www.saferemr.com/2023/07/environmental-procedures-at-fcc-case.html
AFP (Agence France Presse)/Barron's
Mobile Phone Radiation May Be Killing Insects: German Study
NY Times
1998:
When Homing Pigeons Don’t Go Home Again
Soon after the first cell towers were installed in Pennsylvania in 1998, pigeon races ended in catastrophe when nearly 90 percent of the pigeon became disoriented and unable to navigate. The proliferation of cell towers and wireless smart meters across the country creates"a fluctuating blanket of continuous pulsating artificial radiofrequency wave mixtures" that alter naturally occurring magnetic fields. These man-made alterations "thus impair migration and orientation of birds in addition to effects on pollinators."
Daily Mail
2011:
Why a mobile phone ring may make bees buzz off: Insects infuriated by handset signals.
-
Describes research conducted by Dr. Favre, a retired biologist with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. Dr. Favre stated: ‘This study shows that the presence of an active mobile phone disturbs bees – and has a dramatic effect.’
-
Two mobile phones were placed under a beehive, and recordings were made of the high pitched calls made by the bees. Three sets of recordings were made: (1) when the handsets were switched off, (2) when they were placed on stand-by mode, and (3) when the handsets were activated. Approximately 20 to 40 minutes after the phones were activated, the bees began to emit “piping” calls – a series of high pitched squeaks that announce possible danger and preparation for swarming.